Friday, February 29, 2008

The Larry Brrrds

It was hard to decide where to start first on this project. I've got lots and lots of mid 90's regional punk rock vinyl in my collection to cover, but I decided to go with the first thing I was itching to hear: The Larry Brrrds. There isn't a lot I can tell you about this band, because there isn't much I know or was able to glean from the internet. What I do know is this:
They hailed from Dayton, Ohio, they had 3 members, they played some bad ass poppy, sloppy punk rock, and I when I was 16, I quit my job at Hardee's to go see them open for Buzzov-en (sadly, i wound up getting high and not even going to the show). The Larry Brrrds played Huntsville once or twice more, but I was never able to check them out. I did, however, snag every record I found of theirs which totaled up to the three we have here. This, I'm sure, is by no means a complete discography. I know that they have a full length CD out there somewhere, and I wish the hell I owned it and/or knew how to find it (that being said, I haven't really looked that hard). I've zipped up these 3 in one convenient zip file [unlike most music blogs I've seen, that's how I'm going to do things. It's annoying to me to have to download multiple zips with only 3 or 4 songs each].




"Eastown" 7" - This, as far as I know is their first release and it was the first I bought way back in 1994 or so. I had just gotten my driver's license and recall spending a few lonely nights listening to it on repeat while driving about aimlessly. It's a one-sided disc with only 3 very short songs. It's much simpler and more conventionally pop punk than the rest of their stuff... not bad, but not exceptionally good, either. Guitarist J.P. Sinister handles all the vocals and pretty much sounds like a frog being strangled in the studio. It's a little rough to get past at first, but the songs are solid and do well to make it worth listening to.




This one is a split EP with a band called Lynnard's Innards. 4 songs, all very awesome, all very short, and all a more mature continuation from "Eastown". There are no credits on this thing, so I don't know which member has decided to join is as co-lead vocalist, but I'm sure as hell glad he did. Sinister's gutteral croaking is now much more tolerable when complimented by (who I'm going to assume is bassist) Lucky Millions, whose pipes are well above par from your average punk rock crooner.





This one has no title, so I'm guessing it's just self-titled. I'm not sure where this one falls into on their timeline, but it's the third and final record I bought of theirs. Side A contains what are probably two of my most favorite punk songs of all time. They're fast, melodic, ridiculously catchy, and make me wish to hell I myself was in a punk rock band right now. Side Two is good, but is powerfully overshadowed by the first and pretty much the reason I had listened to it maybe twice before I just now digitized it.




Bonus Track: This is a very haphazardly assembled compilation* that features a bunch of punk rock bands of varying notoriety (Propaghandi, Less Than Jake, F.Y.P., and even Huntsville's Themack) covering television theme songs from the 70's and 80's. The Larry Brrrds are heard here performing a rendition of the theme from "Fame".
* No booklet is included, just an apologetic, xeroxed slip of paper alerting the buyer that he/she can write for a copy. It also includes a bonus 7" with one song accidentally recorded at 45 rpms while the rest are at 33 1/3.

Download the whole mess here from Sendspace (i don't have any webspace, and until someone offers to let me use theirs, this will have to do - also, if this link has become inactive, just email me and i'll fix it).